About the Show
Freeze Frame
Freeze Frame is a weekly show reviewing the latest movies from Hollywood's best films to independent and arthouse movies.
The segment airs at the following times:
Mondays 12:30pm
Tuesdays 9:30am
Thursdays 11:58am
Fridays 10:58am
Saturdays 10:58am
Pulling off a screwball comedy is as difficult as pulling out the last block in Jenga. There’s always a good chance the whole thing will come toppling down. The goofy farce “Game Night” somehow remains standing even though it’s not the most stable of structures. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams lead a gifted cast in the wacky story of a husband and wife who are very active gamers. They meet weekly with some of their friends for spirited evenings of intense competition.
One night, Jason’s hotshot businessman brother, played by Kyle Chandler, invites the group over to his mansion for a murder mystery party. Going all out, he hires actors to break in and kidnap him. The first couple to rescue him gets a shiny red Corvette Stingray. Problem is, real kidnappers pull of the dastardly deed before the fake thugs arrive. The gamers gleefully play along unaware of the real dangers afoot.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein, the writers of Bateman’s hit comedy “Horrible Bosses,” take the director’s chair this time out, and the results are chaotic. Thankfully, Bateman and especially McAdams show sharp comic timing and likability, keeping us engaged even as the proceedings grow more and more implausible.
While it never quite reaches the raucous heights it aims for, “Game Night” is a fitfully funny farce that scores enough points to win some R-rated laughs.
Also opening this week, “Annihilation” is a sci-fi opus based on the award-winning novel by Jeff VanderMeer, adapted for the screen and directed by Alex Garland of “Ex Machina” fame. Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and Oscar Isaac star. “Are We Not Cats” is an oddball indie horror romance about a woman who compulsively eats her own hair. “The Lodgers” is a gothic horror flick set in 1920 rural Ireland. “Nostalgia” involves interconnecting stories about love and loss. Jon Hamm, Ellen Burstyn and Catherine Keener are among the cast members. “Every Day” is a romantic drama based on the young adult novel.
